


bring him home

by mirkandmidnight



Series: if/then [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Redemption, Unintentional Redemption
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-15
Packaged: 2018-05-14 04:35:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,289
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5729701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mirkandmidnight/pseuds/mirkandmidnight
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Poe really deserved to have the week off.</p>
            </blockquote>





	bring him home

**Author's Note:**

> So...yeah.

General Organa sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose. “All right, that’s it for today. I’ll see you all next week.” The room erupted into chatter and laughter as the pilots began filing out the door. They’d all received their assignments for the coming week, and Poe was only a little disconcerted that he hadn’t gotten one. That was fine. He really wouldn’t mind having the week off.

He stood, following the others towards the door. It was a rare week off for him, or so it seemed. Not that he was going to complain about it. Maybe now he could finally finish that book Jessika had loaned him.

General Organa cleared her throat and nodded meaningfully at him.

Okay. Maybe not.

Poe shrugged and walked over to her, gesturing for Rey to go on ahead. He stopped a few feet away and shoved his hands into his pockets.

“What’s going on?” he asked, a little shortly. It still rankled a bit that she hadn’t bothered to tell him Ben hadn’t actually been dead, but then, she was still his commanding officer.

“Ma’am,” he tacked on the end. 

“You must be wondering why I didn’t give you a mission this week,” she began, and Poe could only stare at her. He had really been looking forward to having the week off, damn it all.

General Organa continued. “It’s critical that we know the locations of all our enemies. I need you to find Kylo Ren for me.”

Poe just stared at her. “I mean, sure I’ll find your kid for you, but I’m definitely not getting within reach of that light saber.”

The General reeled back as if he’d hit her. “How did you know that?” she said, aghast.

“Ben was my best friend, did you really think I wouldn’t recognize him on sight?” Poe folded his arms over his chest.

She leaned forward. “You’ve seen him?” The eagerness was evident in her voice, which, okay, maybe she could have talked to him a little sooner about that time the First Order caught and tortured him, what the hell? “How was he? Was he all right?”

“He’s angry,” Poe said. “But the real question is why you didn’t tell me he was still alive.” He stared her down, a vein in his neck throbbing. More than anything, even more than Ben’s fall to the Dark side, the fact that General Organa had just decided to let him think his best friend was dead, had in fact lied to him outright about it, made him furious. He should have been told. Even knowing Ben had betrayed them would have been better than thinking him dead.

General Organa stilled, her face going completely blank. He actually would have been kind of impressed had he not been so utterly furious.

“I’ve made a lot of hard choices,” she began slowly, “and that is one I’m not particularly proud of. But I maintain that had you known, it would have made it extremely difficult for you to concentrate on the job you needed to do.”

Poe clenched his fists. “You know what made it hard to concentrate? Thinking my best friend was dead for eight fucking years!” He was practically shouting now.

“Poe,” she said softly.

“You should have told me!”

“Watch your tone, young man, I’m your commanding officer,” she snapped.

Poe’s mouth hung open. Damn, had he really just shouted at her? “Sorry, ma’am,” he said shamefacedly.

She relaxed slightly. “I should think you are. Now go and find my son, Dameron. And don’t let it happen.” General Organa nodded. “Dismissed.”

Poe nodded and headed for the door. If he was going to get this done quickly, he needed to get started. If he didn’t find Ben, and fast, General Organa might send someone else to finish the job. Someone who might not be very careful. Someone who might get Ben hurt.  
***  
Problem: Ben Solo was really fucking difficult to locate. Poe had known this already. As kids, whenever they got into fights with each other, it had always taken him at least three days to track down the other boy and apologize.

And that was when they’d been stuck on a tiny little Resistance base. Now Ben had an entire galaxy to hide in, and no one who knew what he really looked like underneath that mask.

Poe was basically screwed.

He looked down at his plate of food mournfully, pointedly ignoring Jessika’s snickering. “I hate you so much,” he informed her.

Finn grinned and gestured with his fork. “Hey, you know, it’s about time we had a laugh at you, buddy.” He looked thoughtful. “Although, you know he might still have his tracker in. First Order doesn’t like losing employees.” He held out his arm, showing a raw looking scar. “I had to cut mine out myself.”

Jessika whistled. “Damn, the First Order doesn’t mess around.”

Poe took a bite of his food. “I mean, that’s all well and good, but I’m a pilot. I wouldn’t even know where to begin to get that information. I don’t hack, I shoot at things.”

She looked up at the ceiling, chewing. “I bet Mac could do it for you.” Taking in the confused faces around the table, she shrugged. “Mac. She’s a friend of mine. She hacks for fun.”

“You know hackers?” Poe said slowly. 

 

Jessika looked back at him. “You don’t?” She seemed honestly perplexed this, as if it was the most ordinary thing in the world to hang around with hackers.

“I’ll take you to see her as soon as we’re finished eating,” she offered.

Poe grinned. “You’re the best, Jessika, I take everything bad I’ve ever said about you back.”

She shoved at his chest playfully. “Yeah, I’m great, I know. Now shut up and let me eat in peace.”  
***  
Jessika led he and Finn down a long, nondescript looking hallway, looking far more apprehensive than Poe would have expected. She stepped lightly, glancing nervously at the other doors.

“Okay, so Mac is a little grumpy at times, but don’t let that bother you,” Jessika hissed. “She’s actually a really nice person underneath all that,” she made an expansive gesture with one hand, “Well, you’ll see.”

She stopped in front of one of the doors, and while her back was turned, Poe and Finn turned and made questioning faces at one another.

Jessika knocked on the door. “Mac, you in there?” There was a loud banging noise from inside the room, and Finn winced.

Finally the door opened, and a girl with dark hair and skin looked out. “What do you want?” she demanded, then looked at Jessika. “Oh. Hey. What’s going on? What do you want this time?”

Jessike flailed a hand towards Poe and Finn. “Hey. This is Poe Dameron and Finn.” She paused, and Mac squinted at them irritably.

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Mac asked. “Nevermind, I don’t care. What do they want?”

Jessika glanced at Poe. “He wants you to track a defector from the First Order.”

Mac’s eyebrows went up nearly to her hairline. She let out a low whistle. “You boys don’t fuck around, do you?” She opened the door fully and leaned on the doorframe. She paused. “Sounds like fun. Let’s do it.”

She walked back into her rooms, picking up a blanket and wrapping it around her shoulders. The three of them looked at each other and followed her inside.

Mac’s rooms were small, dark, and cramped, and utterly dominated by several large monitors lining one wall. A tangle of blankets lay on top of a small cot, and a pot of coffee bubbled in one corner. She picked up a mug and sat on the floor in front of the monitors.

“You realize that if the First Order finds out you’re doing this, they’ll probably kill you?” Finn asked, raising his eyebrows.

She looked up at him. “Yeah. Why?”

“Just thought I’d ask,” he muttered.

Mac sighed and booted up the computer, pulling a keyboard into her lap. “You people are just lucky I was already planning on hacking their systems.”

“Mac!” Jessika exclaimed. “Were you planning on telling General Organa about this, or were you just going to do it?”

Mac just looked at her. “Would the General have let me do it? No. That’s not the point. You people want me to do this, so let’s do it.”

Poe was man enough to admit when he didn’t know something, and he wasn’t the kind of person to not give credit where credit was due. Given that, it was obvious that Mac was seriously, ridiculously good at this computer stuff.

She appeared to whiz past the security protocols, laughing maniacally as she changed passwords and further messed about in the network. 

Finally, she made her way to the main tracking network. Mac looked over at Poe. “So, who am I looking for here? There’s a shit ton of them up on the fleet.” Mac frowned. “Huh. There’s a loner out there.” She pointed at the screen, and Poe leaned forward to look closer.

“Where is that?” he asked.

Mac started typing again. “Naboo,” she said, and started reading out coordinates while Finn scribbled them down.

Poe’s heart started racing. Naboo. He and Ben had gone there as children, once or twice. They’d gone to the river and talked for hours, sitting up against the trunk of a giant tree. They’d carved their initials into the trunk.

“That’s it,” he heard himself saying, but Mac was still reading from the screen.

“Kylo Ren,” she said, and the whole room froze. “That’s who you’re looking for.”

“What are you going to do about it?” he asked quietly.

Mac shrugged. “Nothing. But you owe me a favor now, and I want you to ask him about the purpose of the side vents on the light saber.”

He stared at her. “Okay? Thanks, I guess.”

But Mac had turned back to her computer screen and was typing away, muttering under her breath. Poe and Finn glanced over at Jessika, who led them back out. SHe closed the door on the way out and they started walking back towards the mess hall.

“Is she always like that?” Finn asked.

“Pretty much,” Jessika confirmed. “But she’s all right whenever you get her out of her room.”

He shook his head. “Intense.”  
***  
So, Naboo. Not the easiest place to get to, or to find people on. It was a heavily forested planet with very few inhabitants. So, that would make things a little easier and a little harder. For one thing, it was unlikely that anyone would know Ben was there, so he probably wouldn’t have to deal with anyone else.

The bad thing about that was that no one would know where on the planet Ben was.

Well, shit.

Poe sighed and decided to land and make a plan before going charging off. He headed for the surface and landed in a clearing, then hopped out. His boots kicked up a small cloud of dust as he walked forward.

Poe sniffed the air and looked around. Water burbled somewhere nearby, and he headed towards it. He found himself on the banks of a river, more of a fast, deep stream, really.

It was all unnervingly familiar, and Poe found himself frowning as he took in his surroundings. 

Then realization dawned, and he grinned. THis was where he’d been with Ben all those years ago! He found the tree they’d sat under quickly after that, and leaned up against it. He ran his fingers over the initials carved into the trunk.

This wasn’t so bad, was it? This was actually pretty nice. Poe leaned his head back and closed his eyes. Maybe if he just stayed here, he could pretend that the last eight years had never even happened. Maybe he could be young and stupid and utterly blissfully carefree and-

“What the fuck are you doing?” someone asked, sounding superbly unamused.

Poe didn’t open his eyes. “Go away. I’m having a moment here.”

Whoever was there grunted and sat down a few feet away (Poe still hadn’t bothered to see who it was, this was much more fun). A few moments later, he heard them let out a hiss of pain, which was when he thought it might be a good idea to see what was going on.

Poe opened his eyes and jerked back in shock, slamming his head into the trunk. He let out a short cry and rubbed at his skull, then looked up again.

Ben Solo sat across from him on a large rock, brow furrowed in concentration. One arm was bare, and the other hand was probing inside a wound on his forearm. He gritted his teeth, and Poe jumped to his feet, ignoring the throbbing in his skull.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Poe shot back, horrified.

Ben grimaced. “Shut up, I’m trying to concentrate and you’re not helping, Dameron.” He continued digging around until he finally pulled out a small metal dot. He studied it with a grim sort of satisfaction, then dropped it to the ground and stomped on it, then wiped his hands on his robe.

“Was that a tracking device?” Poe asked carefully, still reeling from the nonchalance with which Ben had ripped the thing from his flesh. What kind of a life had he led?

 

Ben looked up as if he was just noticing Poe’s presence. “Yup,” He said, popping the last letter. “First Order doesn’t screw around.”

“I keep hearing that,” he replied faintly.

“You should maybe leave, they’re going to be here any minute,” Ben said, sounding preternaturally calm about the whole thing, as if the First Order coming to drag him back didn’t scare him at all. Poe still sometimes had nightmares about them coming for him, dragging him back to interrogate him.

Then again, maybe it didn’t scare the other. Poe hadn’t really known him for a good eight years.

Poe folded his arms over his chest. “And you were just planning on taking them on all by yourself? Or were you just going to sit there?”

He raised his eyes to meet Poe’s gaze, and a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. “The first one,” he said, then wiggled his fingers. “Space magic.”

Suddenly, the sound of a fighter landing filled the air and Ben stood, wrapping his still bleeding arm. He glanced over at Poe. “Well, go on,” he said.

Poe came to a decision. “I’m not going to just leave you here by yourself,” he stated, and pulled his blaster from his belt. He looked around for cover and ducked behind a nearby tree, while Ben stood perfectly still, eyes squeezed shut and brow furrowed in intense concentration.

“What are you doing?” Poe hissed, but he didn’t respond. A few seconds later, an explosion rocked the ground, a fireball floating above the trees. Ben opened his eyes and grinned, looking almost feral, then dashed behind one of the trees.

He stared, disbelief evident on his features. “Did you just blow up their ship with space magic?” he hissed, trying not to panic. He was so not trained to deal with this goddam situation; General Organa would have his head when (if?) he got back.

Ben shrugged, but at least had the grace to look a little shamefaced. “I sort of blew up the fuel tank?”

“You blew them up using space magic!” Poe repeated, his voice about an octave higher than it usually was.

“Not all of them, so shut up or they’ll hear you!” he snapped.

Three storm troopers appeared in the clearing, and Ben frowned. The troopers’ armor was dirty and covered with soot, and one appeared to be limping slightly. They didn’t cut a very impressive figure.

“They only sent three people to bring me in? I’m a little insulted,” he said, sounding miffed.

Poe glanced over to see if he was joking, but he appeared to be deadly serious. “Well, what do you suggest we do about it?” he said, voice dry. “Send a note of complaint?”

One of the storm troopers pulled out a device which looked like a modified blaster, and the other two quickly followed suit.

“Oh, shit,” Ben muttered, and when Poe turned to look at him, his face had gone deathly pale. Poe opened his mouth to say something, but before he could get a word out, Ben had grabbed his hand and was sprinting through the trees, Poe almost tripping on his flapping robe.

“Why are we running?” he shouted.

“Heat seeking missiles,” He explained, still not letting go of Poe’s hand. “They’re nearly impossible to dodge.”

“You couldn’t have just force-caught them or something? I’ve seen you do it.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but I practiced that for hours. Different kind of ammunition, and I’m not about to go and take chances on whether or not I can do it.”

“Why’d you need to practice?”

“I’m not exactly beating teachers off with a stick, am I?” A shot whistled in close behind them, and Ben groaned. “Why is this my life?”

A log loomed in front of them, directly in their path. “Well, you didn’t have to go and kill all the other Jedi,” Poe shouted.

“It seemed like the thing to do at the time,” he snapped.

They leapt over the log in unison, and Poe tried to continue running, but Ben pulled him down and the shot slammed into the log behind them. Then before Poe could even get his breath back, they were off again.

Another shot rang out behind them, and Poe huffed, “Why did you go to the First Order anyway?” He was practically gasping for breath while Ben, dammit, seemed perfectly composed. He could have been taking a short stroll, for all it showed on his face.

“Really?” Ben snapped, as the glowing missile followed them, never more than ten meters behind. “You want to talk about feelings now?”

Poe risked a look back to see that two of the three storm troopers were now sprinting after them. “Point,” he conceded. “So we’ve got some company.”

“I’d noticed,” he said tightly.

“Really hoping you have a plan to get us out of this,” Poe continued as they kept sprinting. The trees ahead were thinning, Poe noticed, though what that meant he didn’t know.

Then they came up on the river. It had widened from the point they’d come from, and white caps dotted the surface of the water.

“Oh, shit,” Poe muttered. The shot was coming up on them, the storm troopers weren’t far behind, and now they were trapped.

They stopped on the banks of the river, and Ben turned to meet his eyes, looking almost earnest. “Do you trust me?” he demanded.

“Not really!” Poe yelled, trying to make himself heard over the roaring of the river.

Ben tilted his head to one side. “Fair enough,” he conceded. He wrapped an arm around Poe’s waist, grabbing the belt of his flight suit, then flung them both into the river.

The shot flew over their heads, and then Poe was shocked by the inescapable chill of the water. They were being pulled along at a considerable speed and-wait, shit. He couldn’t see Ben, and the storm troopers weren’t even taking shots as he was dragged away by the current.

Shit.

“Ben!” Poe screamed, splashing and searching frantically for the other man. “Ben!” Something tugged at his belt as he tried to keep his head above water. He’d never been a very strong swimmer. 

He went around a bend in the river, and the storm troopers were finally out of sight. Ben surfaced then, gasping for breath and sodden hair hanging in his face. Poe had never been so glad to see someone. 

“Are you okay?”

Ben nodded, shoving his hair back with one hand and readjusting his grip on Poe’s flight suit with the other. “They had to think I was dead.”

“A little warning might have been nice,” Poe snapped. “How are we going to get out?”

“Look, it was either this or getting shot,” he said, then stopped short. “Is it just me or is this louder?”

Poe listened. The dull roar of the river had intensified into a thundering crash of water. He looked ahead. “That’s a waterfall.”

Ben stared, then sighed. “I was having such a nice day before you turned up,” he said, then swung around so that they were facing each other in the water. “Hang on,” he warned, and wrapped his arms around Poe. 

Ten meters to the waterfall. Five. Three. Poe closed his eyes and gasped in a breath before they were falling over the edge and tumbling into the icy water below. 

They hit the water and the world went white in a cloud of bubbles. The force of their impact was enough that Poe tumbled out of Ben’s grip, and Poe was left floundering underwater alone. 

He looked around desperately for the surface, but everything looked the same and he wasn't even certain he was facing up anymore. His already dense flight suit soaking through and dragging him downwards. 

Poe was going to be really pissed off if this was the way he died. 

He went still in the water, but something grabbed him under the arms and dragged him upwards. His head broke the surface of the water a second later, and he immediately started coughing up water in between gasping breaths. Poe clung to Ben (because of course it was Ben, there was no one else it could be), hands fisted in his robe. 

“Poe,” Ben demanded, eyes wild. “Are you okay? Poe. Poe!” His voice cracked like a whip. 

He leaned forward to rest his head on Ben’s shoulder, giving him a weak thumbs up. 

“I’m good,” he replied, voice cracking on the last word. “I just don't really swim.”

Ben rolled his eyes. “That would have been good to know before I threw us into a river.”

“Yeah, that was a pretty shitty plan,” he replied as Ben started kicking over to the banks, flicking hair out of his eyes. He boosted Poe out first, then climbed up afterwards. 

Poe laid on his back on the bank of the pool, staring up at the clouds. They were oddly shaped, he decided. That one looked kind of like General Organa.

Wait, no. That was Ben, leaning over him, a concerned expression on his face.

“Did you know you’re bleeding?” Ben said, reaching down to touch Poe’s forehead. His fingers came away bloody. “That’s a bit not good,” he muttered, then stood. “We’ll have to get you back to your ship, I don’t really do wounds.”

He dragged Poe to his feet immediately, and the other man immediately stumbled. The taller man sighed heavily. It was going to be a long trek back.

Why couldn’t he just have a normal day?  
***  
Poe woke up a few hours later, his head throbbing. He frowned as he sat up from where he was laid out next to his X-Wing and rubbed at his head.

Someone had done an awfully good job of patching him up with the dermal regenerator. His clothes were still soaking wet, though. That was kind of irritating.

BB-8 sat next to him, powered down and with a note attached to it. Poe plucked it off and started to read it. 

Dameron,

So by the time you read this, I’ll be gone. Sorry about the waterfall thing. I did get you back here, though, so that’s something I guess.

Anyway, go on back to your Resistance friends and tell them to stop looking for me, please. I have things to be doing, and I think I can promise I’ll be out of your way for the time being. 

P.S. BB-8 still likes me better. And why shouldn’t he? I did make him.

Poe snorted and glanced at the droid, who remained silent. “Asshole,” he muttered, but there was no heat in his voice.

He got to his feet and headed for his X-Wing. Poe had a report to make to General Organa, and not a moment to lose.  
***  
General Organa skimmed the contents of the note, her face a masterpiece of non expression. Poe watched her a tad apprehensively, jiggling one foot slightly.

“So,” he started, and she finally looked up at him. “What are we planning on doing about this?”

The General raised an eyebrow. “We are not going to do anything. You have other missions to take on. I have an army to run. Ben doesn’t want us to look for him, which means that we won’t find him. He’ll come back when and if he wants to.”

Poe was taken back. “That’s a little cold, don’t you think?”

She looked at him appraisingly. “Poe, do you really think much would be accomplished if we dragged him back against his will? Half of us would probably die in the process.”

He considered this. “I guess not,” Poe finally said.

General Organa nodded. “Good. I’m glad we’re in agreement. Now, you’re dismissed. Go on and get some rest, you’ve had quite an ordeal.”

Poe saluted and headed for the door, his mind racing. General Organa seemed a little too quick to let Ben wander the galaxy alone. But then again, what could he do about it? He had no way of tracking Ben, and no clue as to where he was going. Poe supposed he would just have to have a little faith.

Faith, right. Because that had gotten him so far in the past. Poe shook his head as he turned the corner.


End file.
